Reviews: Jig Saws

I recently had a couple of projects that required some curve cuts in both 4/4 oak and 8 ft. 2×12 pine. I don’t own a bandsaw ( bandsaws, horses, and teen agers all make me nervous) no problem , I had my trusty Skil jigsaw.Forget it! What was supposed to be a perfectly plumb 90 degree cut ended up as a 45 degree edge. I think the blade was trying to run away from the wood. So…, off to Home Depot. I was mentally prepared to spend a few bucks and get the best jigsaw available. I...

Both of my 20+ year old jigsaws bit the dust, so I trundled off to Menards to scope out a replacement. I spotted this saw on sale ($84.95 … Rockwell’s MSRP is $149.99). Nobody on LJ’s had any experience with this saw ( http://lumberjocks.com/topics/27668 ), so I decided to take the leap (Menards has a pretty good return policy). I had about $80 in rebate coupons, so it was an easy purchase.
Full disclosure: I have always hated jigsaws (hard to control, hard to get straigh...

Earlier this year I purchased a Makita 4351FCT Jigsaw from Sydney Tools. Official Stats: Length of Stroke 26mm, Max. Cutting Capacity 135mm (wood) & 10mm (steel), Angle cutting -45-45. Continuous Rating Input 720W, Strokes per Minute 800-2,800, and Weight 2.4kg.
I needed a tool to make some curved cuts and also rough cuts in a safer manner than using a circular saw on a non-flat slabs. A bow-saw is romantic but I’d have to build it, and I was in a hurry. A bandsaw would be great,...

This is a tool I wish I never would have purchased. I would have prefered to get by using a coping saw and dealing with a blister or thirty. This tool generates such a level of frustration that it is amazing that the same engineers who design Dewalt, Porter Cable, and Delta could allow such a monstrosity to leave the lab.
This particular unit has a quick blade release, variable speed, variable orbital action and an adjustable base.
The quick blade release does release the blade quickly ...

Another reconditioned tool from Direct Tools factory outlet in Hagarstown MD. This one looked brand new except for the RECOND branded into the housing.
This is a standard orbital jig saw with adjustable blade angle, adjustable shoe angle, adjustable orbital motion. adjustable locking speed, and a max speed limiter on the trigger. It has plenty of control and power and far more adjustements than I will ever need. I can’t really see myself needing the adjustable blade angle or the a...

I bought this jigsaw about 3 months ago. The model is no longer available new, but after visiting 5 stores I was able to find this older model on display. I wanted the 1590evsk, because there have been so many reviews done on this model I knew it would meet my needs. As you see in the picture I bought a couple blades to go with the saw. This guy on e=bay puts up 89 blades a week on e=bay auction and I bought all these blades for 65 bucks. I even got a blade for cutting leather and rubber. ...

I just purchaced this saw from Amazon on my Prime membership because my wife wanted some arts and craft projects cut out. They were about 16” x 20” and are going to be painted to look like a Mason Jar. I used 5mm birch ply. I was able to cut two at a time and the saw didn’t even know it was cutting anything. However a 10mm thickness in a pretty tight inside radius was a little too much for the Bosch 20 tooth Xtra-clean blade. I turned it a nice blue oxide color. Oops. ...

I know, we all give the big box stores crap for having shoddy this, that, and the other. But let’s face it, we nearly all shop there. Lowes has always been a good place and I continue to love buying from there. I was lucky enough to get offered a bit of a shopping spree from my father for my birthday (a bit belated) and Lowes was just down the street.
For the past 6 months I had been cursing myself for spending $30 on a crappy Black your Decker saw that was mostly plastic. I boug...

I got this for $15, and i over paid. It doesn’t hold onto the blades because they keep falling out no matter how much I tighten the set screws. It doesn’t cut straight. Now, it doesn’t even work. I think I didn’t have it for 6 months when it stopped working. Well, sometimes it works when I slam it against a concrete surface, hard.
So if you have one project you need a jigsaw for, but you don’t need super accurate cuts, this would be fine. It’s $20 ...